Shadow Chaser
by BillA1
Summary: Synopsis: Hawkgirl and the Martian Manhunter travel to another world to accept an award for the League and are delayed. This story occurs before “Wild Cards.”
1. No problem is so formidable

Disclaimer: The Characters Batman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Superman & Flash are all owned by DC Comics. This story is intended for my own pleasure and is not for profit. It has been posted to this site for others to read. Places and characters not own by DC Comics are my own creation. Thanks to Merlin Missy for the beta.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**_Shadow Chaser_**

Rating: (PG-13)

Synopsis: Hawkgirl and the Martian Manhunter travel to another world to accept an award for the League and are delayed. This story occurs before "Wild Cards."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**_CHAPTER ONE –"No problem is so formidable…"_**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_A Thanagarian would never build a ship this freakin' narrow. You can't spread your wings unless you stand in the middle of the ship - sideways. I'm the shortest one in the group but did they design this ship knowing I needed the most room? No! I bet they said I would have to make do but I bet if the Princess needed something…. Okay, let it go, Hol, let it go and __focus. Focus_.

Bored by the inaction and angry that she had to stand sideways mid-ship in the Javelin-7 to fully stretch her wings, she methodically flexed and stretched her shoulders and arms as well as her wings, grunting with each movement. _Ten hours. Ten hours is too long for me to be cramped aboard this small ship. I can't stand confined spaces. I am not going to do this again._

"J'onn, do you want me to pilot the craft for a while?" she asked.

"Not now, Hawkgirl, but you can relieve me in an hour," J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter said from the pilot's seat of the Javelin.

Finished with her stretching, she walked to the back of the craft and opened the locker where she had stowed her travel bag. A smile creased her lips as she removed a small plastic baggie from the larger bag.

"Okay, but I don't still understand how you and I got selected to represent the League at this function," she called back to J'onn as she closed the locker and headed for the co-pilot's chair.

J'onn watched her sit in the chair on the right-hand side as he said, "The Government of Rigel Nine wanted to thank the League for saving them from that planet destroying comet last year. They asked that we accept their medal at a public ceremony."

She leaned back in the chair and continued to slowly move her head from side to side. "No, I understand that. I don't understand why us? Why did you and I get picked for this 'honor'?"

"Because we didn't say 'not us' fast enough."

J'onn's sense of humor was so subtle sometimes it would be easy to think it didn't exist at all, and then he would come out with a keen remark and she'd catch herself smiling, surprised all over again.

"The others were busy on missions," J'onn continued looking out the front of the ship apparently indifferent as to whether she understood his joke. "This mission should only take us three days. We should be within radar range of Rigel Nine within another hour."

"J'onn?" she said pausing and waiting for him to look at her. When he turned to face her, she held up the plastic baggie she had retrieved from locker. "I have Oreos," she said in a singsong voice waving the bag in front of him.

J'onn's eyes glowed and he momentarily released the hand controls of the ship. "Hawkgirl, would you like to pilot the ship for a while?"

"Why, J'onn this is so sudden…but if you insist," she said demurely as she gave him the baggie.

He set the ship on autopilot, took the bag of cookies from her and sat down in the seat behind the pilot's chair. As she took his place she could hear the package being ripped open behind her and the greedy crunch of cookies. She wasn't sure but she thought she even heard the Martian hum.

She examined the controls and gauges of the craft but kept the ship on automatic pilot as he had left it. Looking out at the stars, she sighed and looked back at the ship's radar display.

Suddenly she sat up in her seat, looked at the radar display again and then looked out the front right-hand side of the ship. "J'onn! Two ships approaching fast off the starboard bow. A very large ship and a craft smaller than the Javelin."

J'onn's eyes glowed red as he growled and set the partially eaten bag of cookies in his chair. He moved to the co-pilot's seat and looked out to where she indicated.

"The larger ship is firing on us," she said calmly as she armed the Javelin's weapons system. The Javelin's defensive systems calculated the position of the large ship and an indicator light signaled that the weapons had a lock on the firing vessel. She launched the first volley of the ship's weapons. Returning laser fire from the Javelin's starboard side lit the darkness of space.

"No Hawkgirl. Wait," J'onn said as he reached over and turned off the weapon targeting system. "They are firing on the smaller ship they are chasing, not at us. We should not interfere. Give them a wide berth."

However, the larger ship returned fire on the Javelin as it steered to keep the Leaguers' ship to its front. The smaller ship it had been chasing maneuvered to keep the Javelin between it and the pursuing ship so that the Javelin now took the blunt of the rounds directed at the smaller ship being chased.

"Interference is not an option now, J'onn. You handle tactical. I'll pilot," she said as she rotated the Javelin in position to take a flanking shot on the much larger craft.

"There is no tactical. That last shot took out lasers starboard and aft. We also lost the starboard engine. Rotate the ship so I can fire portside weapons at them. Meanwhile, look for a place to set down." J'onn frowned and re-engaged the Javelin's weapon system. He set the system to manual control and returned fire concentrating his shots on the flank side of the large ship. He tapped her shoulder and directed her attention out the left side of the Javelin. "That moon over there. Head for it. Keep the port side toward them so I can return fire."

She banked the ship hard to port, completely flipping the Javelin over so that their remaining weapons faced the attacking ship. "J'onn, we're not going to make it…too far away. Damn! We just lost the port engine." The Javelin started drifting with the loss of power.

The bigger ship broke off the attack and positioned itself between the crippled Javelin and the moon J'onn had spotted. J'onn stopped firing. Keeping his eyes focused on the ship to their direct front and without looking at her, he called out, "Status check."

She took a deep breath and sighed loudly. Scanning the instruments in front of her, she called out, "Both engines are off-line. Most weapons systems are off-line. Torpedoes and mines are still available. Life support is still good. Gravity generator is still functional. We appear to be held in a tractor beam or stasis field of some sort."

As she looked up from the instrument gauges, a flash of bright light suddenly surrounded J'onn, temporarily blinding her. When her vision returned, the Martian Manhunter was gone.

"J'onn!!" she screamed as she quickly leaped up, unclipped her mace from her belt and energized the weapon. As she looked toward the rear of the Javelin, another flash of bright light occurred mid-ship. As her vision cleared, she found herself standing with her back to the pilot console and face to face with five silver-skinned beings in green robes.

The five beings looked at each other in obvious confusion when they heard her growl.

xxxxxxxxxx

J'onn found himself sitting on the floor in the middle of a small 8X8 room that was apparently designed to be a temporary holding cell. The windowless room faced an open hallway but J'onn could see that the opening was guarded by a bluish-tinged force field of some sort and he could hear the faint buzz of an electric motor. The only light in the room came from the hallway. He stood up.

On the other side of the force field stood a being, humanoid in appearance with bright red skin, dressed in a long green floor-length robe. The being was looking at what appeared to be a clipboard or a tablet. Looking up from the clipboard, he momentarily glanced at J'onn with dark eyes and then silently looked back down at his clipboard again.

After examining the device for several long seconds, he looked up and folded his arms across his chest. "Why did you interfere with my capture of that ship?" He glared at J'onn angrily.

J'onn didn't change his expression. He quickly tried to read the being's mind but was unable. _Must be the force field blocking me._

"We misinterpreted your actions," J'onn said. "We thought you were firing at us. We did not intend to interfere. We were only defending ourselves. Who are you?"

The being on the other side of the force field studied J'onn for a moment before replying. "My name is Zevon. I am captain of this ship, the _Shadow Chaser_. My crew and I are all that remain of a race known as Satzorians. The ship you allowed to escape has all of our incubators…our females on it. Your interference has sentenced our race to certain death if we cannot find our incubators."

J'onn tried to study Zevon's body language as the alien spoke, but was unable to come to any clear conclusions regarding Zevon's truthfulness. "If you can help us repair our ship we can assist you in finding them," J'onn offered. "Where is Hawkgirl…the other being on the ship with me?"

Zevon's eyes widened as he spoke, "The female. Is she _your_ incubator?"

J'onn stood a little straighter and enlarged himself slightly. "She is my teammate." Narrowing his eyes he said firmly, "Where is she?"

Glancing at his clipboard, Zevon smiled. "She remains on your ship. Does she carry your future?"

J'onn did not return the smile and his tone did not change. "I don't understand your question? What do you mean?"

Zevon rolled his shoulder and appeared agitated. He spoke rapidly and in a manner conveying impatience as he pointed his finger at J'onn. "I do not have the time to explain reproduction to you. I mean does she carry your future? Is she fertilized? Does she carry your child?"

He paused and spoke slower. "We were unable to determine her status from our bio-scans. She will be quarantined on your ship until we can determine whether or not she is fertilized." He smiled as he added, "I expect to have that answer shortly."

J'onn growled and his red eyes glowed. _This ends now. I'm going to try to phase through that force field. _But before J'onn could act, Zevon's attention was suddenly drawn back to his clipboard. He frowned and then looked back up at J'onn.

Shaking his head, Zevon continued as his frown grew deeper, "It appears she did not wish to cooperate when several of my robots tried to examine her on your ship a few minutes ago. These robots were part of my crew and are not easily replaced." He sighed. "She has damaged all of them beyond repair. We were unable to examine her."

A smile briefly flew across J'onn's face at the thought of Hawkgirl smashing robot intruders. He cleared his throat, walked up to the force field until he was inches away from it and looked Zevon in the eyes. "She is my…mate and I do not wish her examined or harmed. Is that understood? Can you help us repair our ship so that we can either assist you in capturing the other ship or so that we may continue our journey?"

Zevon stepped back from the force field without answering. He looked at his clipboard again and then folded his arms across his chest. "I will have the crew assist you in the repair of your ship but we do not require your help in capturing the escaped ship. We believe we know where they are going. As for your mate, it is best she remain on your ship." He paused and arched an eyebrow. "Do you know if she currently fertilized? Is she available for fertilization?"

J'onn demonstrated no outward emotion but did not like Zevon's persistent inquiry into Hawkgirl's medical status. His answer was firm as he glared at Zevon. "I do not know if she is fertilized or not but that information is none of your business. Is that understood?" J'onn stepped back from the force field. "Quarantine on our ship is satisfactory – for both of us. Transport me back to my ship now."

xxxxxxxxxx

Duty at the Watchtower had been quiet and that was just the way the Flash liked it. It was good duty when nothing was going on and he could sit in the crow's nest eating ice cream with his legs kicked up on the console. _This is the good life_.

Suddenly the audio indicator light came on, signaling an incoming audio transmission. _All good things must…._ The Flash flipped the signal switch and spoke into the microphone.

"This is the Watchtower."

"Watchtower, this is the office of the Chief Administrator of Rigel Nine. We are extremely disappointed that you elected not to attend our ceremony. Do you disrespect all worlds like this?"

The Flash frowned as he stood up. "Hey, we sent two members there to accept your prize. They're not there yet?"

There was silence at the other end for a moment. "No one has shown up. The ceremony begins in three hours."

Flash consulted the roster schedule to re-confirm what he already knew: the missing members were J'onn and Hawkgirl. "Okay, would you let me know when they get there? But if they're not there when the ceremony starts, would you help us look for them?"

In interplanetary communications, it was normal that there would be lag time between responses but the lag time to the Flash seemed extraordinarily long and painful because of his concern for his friends. _Where could they be? I mean they don't have a thing for each other and stopped off some place, did they? Nope. Slap that thought out your head. Knowing J'onn, if they ain't where they're supposed to be, it's only because they're in trouble. Bad trouble._

"We will assist you to the level we can," the voice from Rigel Nine finally answered. "Good luck on finding your comrades. End transmission."

Plopping down in his chair Flash took a deep breath and let it out sharply. He pulled down the frequency book, consulted it and tuned the Watchtower radio transmitter to the private frequency of the Green Lantern's commlink.

"John. Flash here."

"John here. Go."

"Where are you?"

"Coming back from Oa. I should be back to Earth by tonight."

"John, we have a situation."

"Go ahead."

"J'onn and Hawkgirl are missing. They were heading to Rigel Nine. Says here they filed a standard flight plan, but the Rigel guys say they're overdue. I think they're in trouble."

"Got it. Heading to Rigel Nine to backtrack. Lantern Out."

The Flash sat down in his chair and picked up the bowl of ice cream he was eating before the radio transmission. He looked at it and sat the bowl back down on the console. Suddenly he didn't feel very hungry anymore.

xxxxxxx

Zevon's transporter materialized J'onn in front of Hawkgirl and he instantly phased himself. He was glad that he did because at that moment a Thanagarian mace passed right through his head traveling at a high rate of speed.

A very agitated, but visibly relieved Hawkgirl asked, "Are you okay? And where in blazes were you?"

"I am unharmed," J'onn answered smiling slightly because she did not appear harmed either. "I was transported aboard the ship that incapacitated us. The ones who stopped us are called Satzorians and the ship's captain is named Zevon. They will assist us in repairing our ship however our actions permitted their females…their females…." _Zevon__ never said the females were abducted. He said escaped._

He paused for a moment and tilted his head as he looked at her, "Are you all right? They seemed…most interested in you."

She held the mace at her side and frowned. "Right after you disappeared, five of them materialized aboard the ship. They were robots. Anyway, I made taking the ship an expensive proposition for them. After I destroyed them all, they must have been transported back to their ship because they are not here now." She paused, pointed her finger at J'onn and yelled, "There is no _cha'nas_ room on this ship for me to fight and damn it, we've got to fix that. They could have taken this ship."

J'onn sat in the pilot's chair and spun around to face her. He hadn't heard her say the word 'cha'nas' before but assumed it to be a Thanagarian obscenity of some sort based upon her usage. "They were not here for the ship," J'onn said. "They were here to see if you were…fertilized."

Her jaw dropped. She cleared her throat and stared coldly at J'onn. J'onn continued, "Apparently the status of your condition is very important to them, so important in fact that they wanted to know if you were available for fertilization. I told them you were my mate and that I did not want you examined or harmed." J'onn spun around in his chair and faced the front of ship as he started checking the ship's system gauges.

He was violently forced right back around to be face to face with a very irate winged woman. She repeatedly and angrily poked her finger in his chest as she spoke, "I am not available. I am definitely not available. And now that I think about it, they are the ones who need to worry about being harmed."

J'onn didn't say anything but looked down at her finger still poking his chest. She apparently noticed his eyes on her hand. She took a deep breath and dropped the offending hand to tap nervously against her leg.

"Can we trust them to make the repairs?" she asked. Her tone was a little calmer than it had been just moments ago.

"I don't know," J'onn answered. "I wasn't able to read the Satzorian's mind. Does the radio still work? Can we contact Rigel Nine or the Watchtower?"

"I haven't had a chance to try." A wry smile crossed her lips as she continued. "I was a little busy…apparently defending my honor."

It was J'onn turn to smile as he stood up and started to reach for the bag of Oreos that were still sitting where he left them – on the seat behind the pilot's chair. He stopped. Not now, he thought to himself as he sat back down in his seat. He looked back at Hawkgirl and said, "I'll try the radio. You determine what needs to be repaired so we can be underway as soon as possible."

"I'm on it," she said as she walked down the corridor of the ship. She then stopped, turned around, smiled slightly and added, "Mate."


	2. that you can't walk away from it

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**_CHAPTER TWO –"…that you can't walk away from it."_****_ – Charles M. Schultz_**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

xxxxxxxx

"Sand fleas," Stewart said aloud to himself. "Sand fleas."

_Well, private. Tell me, you scumbucket, what gives you the right to kill one of God's sand fleas? __Parris Island__ is their home and you killed one cause he bit you. That flea had kids and you made them freaking orphans. Are you happy with yourself, private? You will never be a Marine because you lack self-discipline. You can't even stop yourself from killing a flea. Why did you do it private? Answer me, Private Stewart, why did you do it, private?"_

John Stewart, the Green Lantern of sector 2814, smirked to himself at that confrontation being played out in his mind. He was always amazed at the things he would think of when he traveled in space alone if he let his mind wander. Sometimes he would think of his high school years. Other times he would think of his early Green Lantern training or like this time he would think of his Marine Corps recruit training days. He recalled that with his drill instructor's nose touching his, his response was a nervous, "SIR, the private doesn't know, SIR!!"Right now he wondered what his drill instructor would think of Stewart, the flea-killer, at this moment.

Normally, Stewart would be happy traveling through the cold void of space, getting a view of the universe that few humans got. But his teammates were in trouble and there was no joy in this mission.

When Stewart arrived at Rigel Nine, he found out J'onn had contacted the planet just ten minutes earlier and notified them that his vessel had been damaged, but he was not able to give coordinates to their position before communication with the Javelin had suddenly been cut off. Following standard procedures, Stewart backtracked toward Earth following what would have been the Javelin's arrival flight plan for Rigel Nine.

Stewart's blood ran cold as he came across the Javelin adrift in space. It was clear that the ship had been in a firefight and it did not look like the vessel had faired well. The hull appeared to be intact but the engines showed signs of substantial damage from laser fire. The starboard weapons array had been destroyed. The ship was dark with no lights and appeared dead. _They couldn't have done a better job of taking this ship out if they had the blueprints. This is not good. Oh, God. Please don't let them be dead._

He swallowed hard, trying to suppress the rising anxiety in his voice and spoke into his commlink.

xxxxxxxx

J'onn wasn't sure how much longer he could hold out. Life support systems on the Javelin had been destroyed and he had changed into a mouse in order to conserve air. The darkness didn't bother him but the ship was starting to get cold, very cold. He was facing a dilemma of what could he change into that could survive in the cold vacuum of space and he was running out of options.

Suddenly over his commlink came a voice he was very glad to hear. But at this point he would have been happy to hear any voice.

"Javelin, come in. J'onn, Hawkgirl can you hear me?"

J'onn changed back to his humanoid form and answered. "John, come in. Can you hear me?"

"I hear you. Are you okay?"

"I am fine, but the Satzorians took Hawkgirl and destroyed the ship's life support."

J'onn moved to the front of ship, toward the large Plexiglas windshield so that Stewart could see him. Stewart created a large transport bubble over the windshield area and J'onn phased himself to pass through the windshield and into the bubble.

Once he was in the bubble, Stewart asked sharply, "Took her? Took her how?"

_Because I failed to do what I should have done when I had an opportunity on their ship._ J'onn's eyes glowed with anger as he spoke, "While she was determining what repairs were needed and I was on the radio notifying Rigel Nine of our situation, they transported her aboard their ship and then destroyed the Javelin's life support and communications systems so I couldn't follow or call for help."

Stewart's tone softened. "How long have they been gone?"

J'onn folded his arms across his chest, still angry with himself. "No more than four hours."

Stewart's eyes narrowed. "Do you know where?"

"No! I don't know where they went." The anger remained in J'onn's voice but now it was tinged with sadness.

"We'll find her, J'onn," Stewart said. J'onn didn't need to read Stewart's mind to know that Stewart was trying to convince himself as well.

"Something else you should know," J'onn said as he looked Stewart in the eyes. "They were most interested in whether or not she was… fertilized." He paused and then added, "Even offering to… impregnate her."

Stewart frowned and said nothing. He looked at his ring and then turned to J'onn. "I have two ion trails. One is larger than the other."

"Follow the larger trail. That's _his_ ship," J'onn hissed literally splitting out the word _his_.

The bubble containing Stewart and J'onn started moving at a high rate of speed following the ion trail. "Tell me about the Satzorians," Stewart said abruptly. J'onn was puzzled by Stewart's question until he realized that Stewart was not talking to him but to his power ring.

"Standby. No information on Satzorian in sector 2814," the ring answered back in Stewart's voice. J'onn was amazed at this exchange between Stewart and his ring. He knew the ring was a powerful weapon but had no idea the ring was capable of providing information in an audio format back to the wearer.

"Consult the Central Power Battery. Tell me about the Satzorians."

"Standby…Standby. Satzorian. Native of Planet Satzor located in the star system Capella. This system is in sector 1417. The Green Lantern responsible for this sector is Katma Tui. Shall I contact the responsible Lantern?"

"No. Tell me about the mating habits of male Satzorian." Stewart looked at J'onn and shrugged his shoulders. "I just want to know what kind of …of trouble she may be in." Stewart paused and then added, "You know, who we're up against."

J'onn arched his eyebrows and said flatly. "Your mind I can read." Stewart averted his eyes and then looked back at J'onn.

The ring answered. "Standby. Current information on mating habits of male Satzorians is not available. Satzorians were hermaphroditic."

J'onn shook his head but didn't say anything to the Lantern. _This makes no sense. If there is a ship full of Satzorians and if they have characteristics of both sexes, they don't need help from an outside species to reproduce so how does Hawkgirl help them? Why do they need her?_

Stewart spoke to the ring again. "Why did you say they _were_ hermaphroditic? Did they change their mating habits?"

The ring answered back. "The last known native Satzorian died 50 years ago when the planet exploded in circumstances similar to the destruction of the planet Krypton. The species is classified as extinct."

Stewart and J'onn looked at each but didn't say anything. J'onn thought to himself that they now seemed to be moving faster than before - faster than he thought possible.

xxxxxxxx

The floor was cold and metallic. She probably wouldn't have noticed under other circumstances, but she noticed now since she had apparently been lying on it for a while. She opened her eyes, slowly sat up and rubbed the side of her face that had been lying on the floor.

She could remember walking to the rear of the Javelin. A bright light had surrounded her before she could shout for help. When the light faded away, she was a small room. _Was it this room?_ Then it became hard to breathe and she didn't remember anything else until she woke up on the floor. _Was I gassed?_ Looking around she saw she was in a small windowless and empty room.

"So you're awake," she heard a voice say.

She gingerly stood up and took her bearings. On the other side of a bluish-tinged force field stood a red-hued being much as J'onn had described to her. _Zedon__ No, Zevon._

Hol kept her eyes on the being and slid her hand down her right hip. He noticed her movement. "Are you looking for this?" he asked holding up her mace by its strap.

Remaining expressionless, she said flatly, "What do you want with me?" She paused and added "Zevon."

He set the mace on the floor, folded his arms across his chest and said, "I want to offer you an opportunity to be the mother of a race."

Her expression didn't change. "I decline."

He stopped smiling and checked his clipboard and came closer to the force field wall. "You should hear me out first."

"Speak. Then I'll decline."

Shaking his head, he stepped back from the force field. "I could force your compliance but I don't want to do that."

She stood in place but shifted her weight to her left leg and folded her arms across her chest. "I wish you would try."

He sighed. "I am not impressed by your display of false bravery. If I wanted to use force I could have done so while you were unconscious. I'd prefer your cooperation."

She walked up to the edge of the force field and pointed her finger at him. "You kidnap people but you want me to believe you have some moral boundary you won't cross. Give me back my mace and I'll show what I think of your boundary."

He smirked. "You have fight in you. Good. You will make an excellent incubator."

She folded her arms. "Suppose I am already with child. Then what?"

"But you're not," came the reply.

_How would you know that unless…unless…you son of a bit…_ Hol screamed and charged the force field wall. She was brutally repelled by the energy wall upon contact and thrown rearward landing on her back. Startled, Zevon stepped back in response to her charge possibly frightened that she might get through. She quickly stood up again. Hitting that force field hurt, but she wasn't going to show her pain. She glared at him as she walked to the edge of the force field.

"Don't fret," he said tilting his head and speaking softly almost as if he were trying to console her. "You were not touched. We were able to do a bio-scan while you were unconscious. Something about your physiology prevented us from scanning you on your ship. Anyway, I would think you would be grateful that I saved your life."

_I don't believe you for one minute about the not touching. Not one damn minute_. "What do you mean you saved my life?" she snapped back at him, making no attempt to disguise her anger or disgust.

He checked his clipboard again. "Right after we transported you over here, your ship blew up. We must have damaged it more than we thought. I'm sorry. Your mate is dead." He stepped closer to the force field and appeared to study her reaction to his news.

Hol didn't say anything but suddenly stepped back unsteadily, turned away from Zevon and dropped down on one knee. Bringing her hands up to cover her ears, she shook her head violently as if she were in pain. A voice. J'onn's voice. She heard a voice call her name. She closed her eyes, concentrated and mentally answered the voice with one word. _Here_.

Hol slowly rose and turned around to face Zevon. She smiled and said, "Tell me about your people. Tell me about you."

Returning Hol's smile, Zevon said, "Ah. Cooperation? Excellent. My name is Zevon and my people…"

Hol smirked as he started talking about himself and his people. _That's right. Keep talking. In a little while you will wish you hadn't met me._

xxxxxxxx

"I have contact with her," J'onn said.

"Good. How far?" There was a detectable quiver in Stewart voice J'onn noticed. But he understood the Lantern's concern. He was worried about her too.

"Maybe another three minutes at present speed," J'onn replied.

"Do you have a status on her condition?" Stewart asked. He paused and cleared his throat. "I mean is she okay?"

"I can't tell that," J'onn answered frustrated that he wasn't sure of her condition. "Her mind is closed to me. She was in pain but that may be from my contacting her and not from anything else. I can't tell."

Stewart was quiet, and then in a whisper he said: "J'onn, I don't intend to do a lot of talking with these folks when we get there."

Placing his hand on Stewart's shoulder, J'onn said without betraying any emotion, "Any conversation you have with them will be twice as long as the one I will have with Zevon." His eyes glowed as he spoke the captain's name.

Both men fell to their own silent contemplation. J'onn didn't need to read Stewart's mind to know that Hawkgirl was special to the Lantern. If anything happened to her; Stewart would be a very unhappy man and ultimately so would those who caused her harm.

For J'onn it was different. Actions had consequences. Zevon had kidnapped his teammate and friend, and had left him to die in space. Those were actions which would have severe consequences.

The silence was broken by Stewart's exclamation as he pointed at an object near them. "There's the ship. Can you pinpoint her location?"

J'onn concentrated for a second and then pointed. They were rapidly closing the distance. "Port side. Mid-ship. Twenty meters inside from the hull."

Stewart maneuvered the energy bubble carrying the Leaguers to the point on the ship J'onn specified. "Once you're inside, I'll create a diversion," Stewart said as the bubble made contact with the ship. J'onn nodded his acknowledgment and phased into the vessel.

xxxxxxxx

Hol was tired of listening to Zevon rattle on about how wonderful it would be to have her cooperation. She had wanted to keep him talking but his voice grated. The prattle made it difficult for her to concentrate on thinking her one word message for J'onn.

"Suppose I say okay, I will do what you want," she interrupted Zevon. _Here._ "What happens then?" _Here._

Zevon was about to answer her when he suddenly looked at his clipboard and then back at her. Frowning he said, "I'll return." He hustled out of her sight and down the corridor.

A small smile came across her face. _I think you have company, Zevon. _Just then, J'onn materialized on other side of the force field rising up from the floor. Her smile broadened as J'onn approached the force field.

"Glad to see you, _mate_," Hol said.

"Glad to see the provider of the Oreos," J'onn answered apparently looking along the wall for the controls of the force field. She stepped back away from the force field wall opening just as he smashed a panel on the wall and the force field shut down.

Hol ran out of the room and grabbed her mace off the floor where Zevon had left it. Energizing her weapon, she looked at J'onn and snarled, "Let's find Zevon."

xxxxxxx

Zevon hurried to the bridge. His clipboard, streaming information from the ship's computer, informed him external forces were shutting down the _Shadow Chaser_'s systems. He saw his five robot crewmen huddled at their stations trying to restore the failing systems. The room was filled with the sounds of clicks and clacks and the whirring of mechanical men focused on their tasks.

He ran to the center of the bridge and called out, "Report!" One by one the robots called out the ship status from their consoles.

"Dead stop."

"Port engine off-line. Port weapon system off-line."

"Hull breech near starboard engine. Starboard engine off-line."

Zevon put his head in his hands as another called out, "Starboard weapon system off-line. Communication link is inoperative. Transporters are off-line."

"What happened? What's doing this?" Zevon yelled out at no one in particular.

Pointing at the forward view screen, one of the robots answered, "He is."

Looking at the view screen, Zevon saw a man dressed in black and green pointing his hand at various parts of the _Shadow Chaser_. Wherever the man pointed, a green light sliced pieces of his ship away the way someone would slice meat with a knife.

"Repairs!" Zevon screamed at his crew. "Quickly make repairs! He's entering the airlock. Get my weapons back – now! Seal off the airlock. Get me a visual and stop him!"

"No one move," said a voice coming from the doorway entrance to the bridge. The voice belonged to the winged woman who was holding her weapon in her right hand and tapping it in her left hand. Next to her stood her mate. He looked …unhappy, Zevon thought.

"Attack!!!" Zevon yelled out to his crew.

xxxxxxx

Satisfied that he had disabled the ship enough so that it was no longer an offensive threat, Stewart cut an entry hole into the ship next to an airlock, and then cut a hole into the airlock itself.

Standing in the airlock and using his ring, he willed himself through the closed hatch and into the ship itself.

"Intruder," a silver-skinned being called out as Stewart entered the area on the other side of the airlock.

The area appeared to be a large cargo holding area. Four similar silver-skinned beings rushed at Stewart as he quickly levitated above them. Forming a giant hand, he grabbed the creature that had first sounded the intruder alert and swung him like a bat into the other four beings.

The figures landed in a heap at the rear of cargo area. Two of the beings broke with sparks flying from the broken bodies. Stewart threw the being he had used as a bat into a corner wall where it slumped.

"Homerun," he said knowing the broken figures wouldn't or couldn't appreciate his little joke.

Stewart set off to follow the homing signal of J'onn's commlink.

xxxxxxx

With Zevon's order for his robots to attack, Hawkgirl launched herself in the air and swiftly attacked the five robots at their stations. Her attack was efficient and fatal. One of the robots reached for her but instead caught the blow of her mace in the chest breaking him in half. Another pointed its arm at her as if it were about to fire a weapon of some sort. With one swing of her mace she hit and destroyed that robot's arm and head on the forward swing and smashed another robot in the head on the back swing. She then smashed a fourth robot in the head and broke the fifth machine in half with another angry swing of her weapon. Electrical sparks, smoke and wires flew in the carnage she unleashed.

Meanwhile J'onn moved at lightning speed and grabbed Zevon by his robe and lifted him up. The Martian made no attempt to conceal his anger, rising in height so that Zevon's feet no longer touched the floor.

"Wait," Zevon cried out, struggling in J'onn's grasp.

"Why?" J'onn asked, tightening his grip on Zevon. "Why do you deserve mercy after what you did? After what you tried to do?"

"Kill me and you will sentence a whole species to extinction!" Zevon screamed out. J'onn loosened his grip on the red-skinned alien and lowered him so that his toes just touched the floor. "Go on," J'onn hissed. Hawkgirl stood at his side.

"Fifty years ago," Zevon answered, "Satzor exploded but before it did, I was created to harvest the DNA material of the planet's highest life form and with the right host, I can recreate this lost race. I am positive the winged one is the right host. She scans much better than those on the other ship that escaped from us."

"You were created?" Hawkgirl gasped. "What are you? A robot? An android?"

Zevon's tone suddenly changed. "I am a harvester," he said flatly.

"You are a machine," J'onn corrected.

"This ship is a machine designed to save a civilization. I am the pilot of this machine," Zevon replied. J'onn noticed that Zevon seemed to be getting heavier in his grasp.

"You are the interface of a machine," Hawkgirl snapped back. "And this machine is a prison. You've ruined and terrorized countless lives over the last fifty years in an attempt to bring back a dead civilization. The dead should remain dead. This ends now."

Zevon suddenly enlarged himself until he was three times the size he was when the Leaguers first encountered him. He grabbed J'onn and threw him against the far wall. "It will not end now!" Zevon yelled.

Leaping in the air, Hawkgirl tried to hit Zevon with her mace but was swatted away like a fly before she could make contact with him. She landed in the lap of a half-crushed and still sparking robot she had destroyed just moments earlier. J'onn flew at Zevon and punched him in the head. The robot faltered but didn't fall. Almost as if in desperation Zevon grabbed J'onn by the throat. At first J'onn clutched at Zevon's hands as he tried to strangle him. Suddenly the Martian phased through Zevon's hand, stepped back and hit the surprised robot in the chest. Growling, Hawkgirl leaped back into the air and hit the robot in the back sending it forward into a crushing right hand blow from J'onn. The head of the giant robot flew across the room and the body of the machine interface called Zevon fell backward in a heap.

The lights on the bridge immediately clicked off as the gravity generator apparently shut down. With the loss of gravity, the two heroes --- and all the loose wreckage strewn about --- started floating.

xxxxxxxxx

At that moment the Green Lantern had made his way to the bridge and using his ring, cut an opening in the bridge door. As he entered the bridge, he saw Hawkgirl and J'onn floating among the wreckage. _It's real easy to see her handiwork._ He noticed she had a wide smile on her face when she apparently saw his green glow in the darkness.

Stewart formed an energy bubble around his floating teammates. Looking at J'onn, Stewart asked, "Are we finished here?"

"We're finished," came the curt reply.

Their bubble traveled down the passage way to the airlock. Stewart cut a hole in the airlock and they exited the destroyed ship.

Once they were clear of the ship she asked, "Now what?"

"We tow this ship to Rigel Nine and get our award," Stewart said as he formed a tow line and attached it to the bow of the ship. "Then we pick up the Javelin on our way back," he added.

They started moving at high speed toward Rigel Nine with the _Shadow Chaser_ in tow.

"I had forgotten about the award," she said a few moments later. "Hopefully they will still be happy that we showed up." She paused for a moment and then asked, "What about the DNA specimens he had?"

J'onn sighed. "We'll ask Rigel Nine to take the ship apart and find the DNA specimens. We'll come back and retrieve them and ask Superman to store them in his Fortress of Solitude."

Stewart noticed that J'onn had appeared to be sad.

J'onn nodded at the unspoken question. "It's sad in a way. If I had an opportunity to recreate my world on Mars, I think I would."

Hawkgirl answered him. "I think we would all jump at a similar opportunity but I don't think we would destroy someone else's future so we could recreate the past and that's what Zevon was doing. If we had let him go he would have continued. We were right to stop him."

"Shakespeare?" Stewart offered.

"Huh?" she replied tilting her head toward him.

"Shakespeare said 'Nothing emboldens sin as much as mercy.'"

She didn't say anything but Stewart thought that she held his arm a little tighter at that moment.

J'onn looked at her and said, "I hope the cookies have not frozen into chucks of ice by the time we get back to the Javelin."

"If they have," she said, "I have another bag at the Watchtower that I'll share with you, _mate_." She put special emphasis on the word mate, Stewart noticed.

"Mate? Is there something I should know?" Stewart said as he looked at both of them one at a time.

"Nothing you should know," she answered looking at J'onn.

J'onn folded his arms across his chest, grinned back at her and said to John. "Nothing for you to know."

End


End file.
